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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. cold — an illness
  4. plane — a tool
  5. swing — music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. face — to point toward
  9. kid — child
  10. swing — in golf
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. tear — from crying
  14. snap — to click
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. swing — to play on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — to rip
  21. face — to confront
  22. face — part of the head
  23. kid — to tease
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com